Greybeard sends a link to a post on “what church leaders can learn from literature.” He says he has read only Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, which I have not read and I would say is not high on my list except I don’t have an actual list, so I can’t quite judge this title’s placement on it. I would like to read it some day. Maybe once I become rich and famous.
I have read Potok’s My Name is Asher Lev. I read it for a modern literature class in college and had to give a type of oral report on it even though I hadn’t gotten beyond 100 pages. But in those pages, Asher Lev grabbed me. It’s a thickly tensioned story of a family that feels out of place in the world and a gifted boy who feels out of place in his family. I’d like to read it again before getting around to Dorian Gray. I mean, I like Oscar Wilde. I have enjoyed my frequent experience with The Importance of Being Earnest. But I want to read more of Chaim Potok. One is flash, the other heat.
Many more reading recommendations follow in the comments on that post.
You have no idea how encouraging it is to me to see this. I am constantly frustrated by Christians who think narrative fiction is a complete waste of time.
Ah, yes, recommendations. Well, how about Peace Like a River, a novel packed with Christian themes that somehow gained mainstream cachet?
Actually, I didn’t say I’d read it, but that it was the only one in the list I’d heard of.
As for fiction, I generally turn to it when I want a distraction. Or maybe I should distinguish between light and heavy fiction. I have purposed over the years to be widely read in the area of classic literature. But even though it is fiction, it is not light reading. The archaic language, complex sentence structure and multiplicity of characters requires attentive reading and sometimes purposeful slogging.
On the other hand, when I want to relax I turn to Louis L’Amour or Douglas Adams or an old British spy novel by Len Deighton or John LeCarre. Occasionally Grisham has filled that category too. In those times, I’m looking for a gripping story line with endearing characters rather than thinly veiled social commentary.
I read your copy of Asher Lev long ago and remember really enjoying it. And I’ve read Dorian Gray more recently and it’s skippable. I think I’ve heard it described as a treatise on Hedonism–and in that way I find it kinda “preachy”.